Wrestling With Sin: 486

Brian Damage

This is the 486th installment of the ‘Wrestling with Sin‘ series. A group of stories that delves into the darker, underbelly of pro wrestling. Many of the stories involve such subjects as sex, drugs, greed and in some cases even murder! As with every single story in the Sin series, I do not condone or condemn the alleged participants. We simply retell their stories by researching interviews, newspapers, magazines and various other sources of media.

Alone Star State

Jeanie Clarke was a model turned pro wrestling valet who was romantically involved with wrestlers Chris Adams, Billy Jack Haynes and Stone Cold Steve Austin. While married to Austin, Clarke had witnessed her husband’s career begin to take off in the WWF. All while she stayed home, taking care of their children in Texas. With Austin’s schedule becoming more and more demanding, Jeanie began to feel lonely and depressed. It led her into taking drugs more and more to deal with her everyday life. She developed an addiction which got worse over time.

Her addiction coupled with her depression, led her to trying to end her life on a number of occasions. She once tried to hang herself from a tree while enduring a drug induced psychotic episode…but luckily snapped out of it before doing the deed. She also tried to swallow an entire bottle of prescription pills, but got so sick, she vomited all of it out of her system. Jeanie would try to kill herself a third time, by taking one of Austin’s guns and putting it to her head and pulling the trigger…only to discover the gun wasn’t loaded. She frantically looked for bullets to load the weapon, but eventually passed out from the amount of drugs in her system. All of these episodes eventually led Steve and Jeanie to divorce and she would later overdose and nearly die as we covered here previously. Thankfully, she did receive treatment and got herself clean.

Danny’s DUI

A former WWE developmental wrestler named Danny ‘Inferno’ Gimondo was arrested in Florida in late June of 2023. He was charged with Driving Under the Influence and in possession a controlled substance without a prescription. Gimondo was pulled over by police after witnessing him swerving in and out of his lane. The police saw Gimondo sweating and smelling of alcohol. Gimondo claimed that he had a relapse of drinking and was on his way to a rehab center. He also admitted to having taken several pills before driving.

A search of his car discovered a zip lock bag with three pills identified as Alprazolam aka Xanax. Gimondo claimed to have a prescription for the pills, but could not provide proof. Gimondo was asked to take a field sobriety test, but could not complete it claiming an old knee injury from his professional wrestling days. Gimondo then complained of chest pains and was sent to a nearby hospital for evaluation. It was there, that he received a breathalyzer test and registered a blood alcohol content of 0.167 which was above the legal limit of .08. Gimondo was arrested and jailed where he remained until his court appearance in early August due to his inability to post a $10,000 bond.

For a look at Danny ‘Inferno’ Gimondo’s wrestling career in WWE developmental…please read here.

Money For Nothing

Nobuo Shiraishi is a Japanese businessman, who made his money in IT and computers. In 2012, Shiraishi bought All Japan Pro Wrestling from Keiji Mutoh who had owned a majority share of the company at the time. Under Shiraishi’s leadership, All Japan fell into some dark times. He wanted to change the pro wrestling company into more of a shoot fight/MMA style promotion and in doing so…alienated many loyal All Japan wrestlers including Mutoh who fled the company.

Shiraishi’s vision of All Japan Pro Wrestling didn’t attract top stars…only freelancers and attendance severely suffered as a result. The once mighty wrestling promotion was a shell of its former self and instead of performing in major venues, was relegated to high schools and outside events that would barely garner 200 fans a show. Nobuo Shiraishi was said to have been very egotistical and rubbed many in the wrestling industry the wrong way. With All Japan on the verge of bankruptcy and ready to fold, Shiraishi sold off his shares of the company to former All Japan star Jun Akiyama who helped save it from certain death.

In July of 2023, Nobuo Shiraishi and three other of his business associates were arrested on suspicion of fraud. Shiraishi started a cryptocurrency company that had no real substance other than to mislead people to invest money into something that was non existent. It is believed that the cryptocurrency company bilked investors over 30 billion Yen which is over 210 million in US dollars. Shiraishi and others used the funds to pay off other debts and expenses.

Out of Gas

John Franklin Zook was a veteran of World War I, who worked a variety of odd jobs after being discharged from the military. Zook became a professional wrestler and competed in the Midwest portion of the United States. On the morning of May 1, 1940…John Zook borrowed his neighbor’s shotgun stating he wanted to go hunting. He drove to a parking lot in a small town in the Kansas City, Missouri area and proceeded to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head.

When his body was discovered, Zook had left behind a note that was attached to the windshield wiper of his vehicle. It read…“Everybody forget me because I am tired of living. The gas I got in France is wrecking me and I am no good for myself or anybody else. Some say a man is crazy for doing this, but I am not. I am tired of this old life, so I’ll just finish it. I love my wife too much for her to suffer, while I can see it, so everybody live right and forget me. So goodbye mother and Lela. Please notify my father J.W. Zook at 2931 North Thirteenth Street, Kansas City, Kansas.”

The suicide note was unclear what the gas he received in France was exactly, but the newspapers speculated that it was the after effects of his service in the war some years prior. John F. Zook left behind a wife Lela…he was 43 years old at the time of his death.

You can read all previous ‘Wrestling with Sin’ pieces here.